US deploying warship with 1000 marines near Libya
The Unhived Mind
US deploying warship with 1000 marines near Libya
Tue May 27, 2014 10:59PM GMT
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/05/27/364431/us-deploying-assault-ship-off-libya/
The United States is sending a warship with 1,000 marines into the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya to boost the American force already deployed in the region, a US military official says.
The USS Bataan, equipped with several helicopters, was supposed to be in the area “in a matter of days,” in case the US must evacuate its embassy there, said the official on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The move described as “precautionary” was taken in case Libya’s conditions exacerbate and result in the evacuation of the US embassy as Libya has been the scene of militia battles which have throwing the country into anarchy.
The amphibious assault ship will augment the US crisis response force already in the region.
Earlier this month, some 250 marines and several tilt-rotor Osprey aircraft were deployed at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily in case they were required to evacuate Americans from the US Embassy in Tripoli during unrest there.
According to a statement released by the US State Department last week, the US Embassy in Tripoli remained open in spite of an attack launched against militias by a dissident general, Khalifa Haftar.
The precautionary action has been taken in the light of controversy over an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi in 2012 attack which left four Americans dead, including ambassador Christopher Stevens.
“Training indigenous forces to go after threats in their own country is what we need to be doing,” said Michael A. Sheehan, who advocated the counterterrorism program last year when he was the senior Pentagon official in charge of Special Operations policy.
Nearly three years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya is still grappling with rising insecurity as the country has been witnessing numerous clashes between government forces and rival militia groups.
The former rebels refuse to lay down arms despite efforts by the central government to impose law and order.
Thousands of angry Libyan demonstrators have recently taken to the streets in different cities to protest against lack of security across the North African country.
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